Turn Down for What

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about dealing with jealousy and such, and this may seem quite similar but I want to look at it from a different point of view. Many times we look it saying we need to stop being jealous and focus on what we have and be thankful and content with that, which we do, but that’s not all of it. What if we looked at it and gained encouragement instead?

About 2 months ago at a womens event at my church, called “Sisterhood,” one of the speakers said something that has been stuck in my head since that night. She said,

“What if we looked at other peoples miracles as a sign of encouragement that our miracle is on the way? What if we used other peoples victories to strengthen our faith?”

I sat there that night, in the crowd with all the other women hoping for transformation, nodding my head and saying “Amen, that’s so good!” but what did I really do with it? I went home and the next day saw one of my friends get majorly blessed in her career and I just thought to myself, “What the heck God? Why can’t that be me?” The funny thing about this scenario is that this happened in like June, and I’m just now having a realization, simply because of one of my lovely friends Instagram posts this morning. She posted something insanely sweet that her boyfriend did for her and at first I thought, “Geez, nobody’s ever done anything like that for me, dang.” But, I caught myself and I was reminded of the fact we need to rejoice when others rejoice.

Romans 12:15 (ESV)

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

This verse is easy to read and see that we need to have empathy in sadness and mourning because that’s sort of something we always seem to mention, but being happy and truly rejoicing with someone may turn out to be a daunting task because our human nature takes over. When we can rejoice with someone in their victory, it becomes second nature to take that rejoicing as encouragement in our own life. We instantly begin to look at it from the place of thinking “Wow, if Jesus is blessing them then that means something just as good can happen for me!” We begin to replace our discouragement with a renewed faith and hope.

One more side of this is when we get discouraged because we just don’t get why the good thing we’ve been believing for haven’t happened yet. We sit around watching all these other miracles and blessings happen and ours seems to have been left out of the mix. It’s almost as if we forget to be content and that everything we have now was probably something we wanted desperately before.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not, but remember that what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for”

I’m not sure who said that quote, and if you know tell me, but its on a piece of hand painted artwork hanging in my room; my mom found it at a thrift store. When I wake up in the morning, this is one of the first pieces of art that I see. I read it constantly but somehow its truth doesn’t stick in my heart as I wish it did.

The other night I was on the phone with one of my amazing friends having an extra sassy conversation about something that was really bothering me and she just dropped an atomic truth bomb. She said, “Yeah, right now it sucks, but in the future when it happens, you’ll look back and see exactly why it didn’t happen till that exact moment. Stop wishing for what you don’t have and see that what you have now is here for a specific purpose.” At first, I rolled my eyes (which she could ‘hear’) because I knew she was right but then I started to let it resonate.

I think it is slightly bothersome that we don’t know why we don’t have certain things we’ve desired for such a long time, which creates a type of jealousy, but I think we also just forget that our control is an illusion. We forget that we’re not ultimately in charge. We need to drop our pride in a giant furnace and just light it up and move on. We need to do a victory dance with the people around us when good things happen for them. I’m not sure if you’ve ever noticed this, but happiness and joy are contagious. If you’re at a party and someone puts on the jam, your bones can’t help but move and shake their way to the dance floor, where your inhibitions just dip out and you let go and just have fun. Do a little victory dance.

Psalm 20:5 (MSG)

“When you win, we plan to raise the roof and lead the parade with our banners. May all your wishes come true!”

Lets just live life like the end of a football game, doing the running man by the goalpost, after the winning touch down. Essentially, let’s just get super “turnt up” about everything awesome that happens around us, because like I said, happiness and joy are contagious.

You are all phenomenal people, so turn down for what? Am I right? LOLOLOL. I felt like a total goober saying that! Have a fantastic weekend and next week, and next month, and year!